President of Tehran’s Jewish Association Lays Out Holocaust Facts for Ahmadinejad

Persian speaking websites have published a letter from Haaroon Yashayayi, the president of Tehran’s Jewish Association, to the Iranian President. Following is an English translation provided by Hossein Alizadeh, Program staff of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Iran Initiative.

Dear Mr. President,

Our apologies for interrupting your busy schedule and your around-the-clock efforts to solve the people’s problems, but we felt compelled to discuss a series of concerns that in the past few weeks have become a major preoccupation for the people of the world, the Iranian people and the Jewish community.

The small community of Iranian Jews is deeply horrified by the daily denial by the Iranian public media of the genocide of the Jews by Nazi Germany, one of the saddest incidents of the 20th century. This denial has also brought disbelief and shock to world public opinion.

How can anyone try to justify the crimes of Hitler’s Fascist regime and dismiss the devastating effects of World War II, which resulted in the death of 50 million people and caused so much damage to many nations, including our homeland Iran? Those who try to do so are undoubtedly viewing events through the lens of their political prejudice, a prejudice that has its roots in Western secularism and not in Islamic values.

How can anyone forget the charter of the Nazi party and their racist philosophy of ethnically cleansing Europe of Jews? Those who can’t recall these events can pick up Hitler’s Mein Kampf and listen to the speeches by Goebbels and Himmler to refresh their memories …

How can anyone, on the basis of a few comments by a few godless people, dismiss all this hard and undeniable evidence about the mass murder and mass displacement of European Jews during WWII? Even worse, how can anyone use the [fabrications], and make up more stories around them, and sell them to their unsophisticated audience as the honest truth?

Mr. President:

There is no doubt about the fact that some 50 million people lost their lives to WWII. Debating whether the Jews made up six million or only one million of the victims is beside the point … Don’t you think that denying the victimization of the Jews is a step toward diminishing the value of those 50 million human lives? Don’t you think that such a position only undermines the core values of the Islamic revolution, the teachings of the late Imam Khomeini, and the ancient traditional beliefs of Iranians? And all of this because of some fleeting political sentiments?

Mr. President:

The Holocaust is not a fairy tale; it is a horrible event that will remain a blemish on the face of the Western Civilization, an infected, dirty wound. You should be aware that the leaders of the Neo-Nazis in Europe, who are now busy burning houses of black people and vandalizing Muslim neighborhoods, may commit something worse than a Holocaust on the Muslims.

Your Excellency Dr. Ahmadinejad:

The Holocaust is not a fairy tale, in the same way that Saddam Hussein’s genocide in Halabjeh was not a fairy tale, as the murder of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians by Sharon’s thugs in Sabra and Shatila was not a fairy tale, as the Muslim genocide in the Balkans was not a fairy tale, and as current events in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan are not a fairy tale.

Your Excellency:

There are doubts about the number of innocent Jews who were killed during the Holocaust, but these debates are only about the exact number and not a debate about whether the Holocaust ever took place or not.

It is true that the Zionists have been exploiting the Holocaust to pose as victims and there is historic evidence about some radical Zionist groups collaborating with the Fascists and Nazis to intensify the Holocaust. But no one can ever doubt that millions of Gypsies, Jews, Polish and Slovak citizens, and even Muslims were murdered by Nazis and the Red Army. We honor the innocence of all those poor victims, of whom Jews were only a small part.

Dear Mr. President:

We are worried that current debate over the Holocaust will undermine the core values of our Islamic Revolution— to defend the right of all underdogs and protect their freedom—and instead will promote ultra-nationalistic and racist sentiments that can only fuel senseless ethnic and religious tensions.

How is it possible to set up a scholarly investigation into a social phenomenon, without even examining the arguments of the other party? How scientific can such an inquiry be if its results are already decided?

It is a shame that there are those who want to waste our youth’s time and energy to figure out whether six million Jews died during the Holocaust or only one million. Such a discussion only glorifies the most worthless aspects of Western civilization’s heritage, namely racism and ethnic violence.

Dear Mr. President:

Orchestrating endless show-trials to deny the Holocaust accomplishes nothing for Iranians, Muslims or Palestinians. The only purpose that these shows can serve is to please bigots and racists.

We write this letter with the best intentions, hoping that you can put an end to this unprecedented Holocaust-denial propaganda and demonstrate to world public opinion that our Islamic civilization does not tolerate racism and genocide under any circumstances.